August 25, 2009 - NCSF is proud to announce the addition of a new board member, Scott Purcell. Purcell has been in the internet industry since the inception of the browser, founding Epoch Networks in 1994, one of the original 7 network firms that formed what we now call the Internet. During this time Purcell also served on the Board of the Commercial Internet Exchange and was the liaison to Congress and the FCC for the Clinton administration. Purcell has founded numerous other ventures, including OnAir Networks (music streaming), Web Biographies (life journals & family trees), Browsercast (search distribution) and Kasidie.com (swingers social network).

Purcell has appeared before Congress on numerous occasions on behalf of the internet industry and as a retained consultant for the Recording Industry Association of America. As the founder of Kasidie.com he works with swinger clubs, party promoters, bloggers, resorts, photographers, travel agencies, and others throughout the swinger community. This includes established enterprises as well as people just starting new ventures that ask for help with promotions and sponsorships.

"I am passionate about this lifestyle that we all lead (by "lifestyle" I refer to "adventurous sexuality", not just swinging) and believe that the NCSF can and should be a major factor in working to ensure the civil liberties on a local and larger scale basis," says Purcell. "With my business, non-profit and political experience I can contribute to this fight."

Hard at Work to Defend Your Rights

The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) was formed in 1997 by a small group led by Susan Wright under the auspices of the New York SM Activists. The goal was to fight for sexual freedom and privacy rights for all adults who engage in safe, sane and consensual behavior.

The first five organizations who joined reflected our desire to be a nationwide organization:

National Leather Association—International

Gay Male S/M Activists

The Eulenspiegel Society

Black Rose

Society of Janus

Today, NCSF has over 50 Coalition Partners who elect the board that runs NCSF, and establish our goals at the annual Coalition Partner meeting. Coalition Partners are groups and businesses who serve BDSM, swing and polyamory practitioners and also support NCSF by holding an annual fundraiser. NCSF also has over 100 Supporting Members – groups and businesses that support NCSF.

Over the years, NCSF has formed alliances with other organizations that defend sexual freedom rights: Free Speech Coalition, the ACLU, American Association of Sex Educators Councilors and Therapists, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance, among others.

Early Successes for NCSF

The 1998 Violence & Discrimination survey revealed the extent of discrimination and persecution that exists against the SM-leather-fetish communities. NCSF found that 36 percent of SM practitioners have been victims of harassment and that 30 percent have been victims of discrimination. This discrimination resulted in 24 percent losing a job or a contract, 17 percent losing a promotion and 3 percent losing custody of a child. This survey helped NCSF gear our energies towards issues that matter most to our constituents.

NCSF also lent assistance to the local communities in San Diego and Baltimore, to help to stop the selective enforcement of zoning and public indecency laws against the SM-Leather-Fetish communities. Next, NCSF assisted the local communities in Attleboro, MA and Washington, DC as those cities faced the same selective enforcement that had been attempted in Baltimore and San Diego. NCSF continues to work with State Attorney Generals and local District Attorneys to help educate these authorities about SM, swing and polyamory practices to prevent dangerous precidents from being set against adult consensual sexuality.

NCSF and the Media

As an advocacy organization, one of NCSF's strategies has been to educate the media about issues facing the SM-Leather-Fetish, swing and polyamory communities. You can help by signing up for NCSF's Newsletters and read our Blog for NCSF News and Media Updates. This weekly email will alert you to stories about alternative sexual expression in the news, and will give you contact information so that you can respond to an editor to let them know if you liked or disliked an article and why. We also give you tips on how to write a letter in our Activist Resources. Even if your letter is not printed, these letters influence how editorial decisions are made in the future.

NCSF's Media Outreach Program has developed a package of materials that provide information about NCSF and the communities we represent. This program provides education and training to groups and individuals on how to effectively interact with the media.

One example of NCSF's advocacy efforts took place in the Attleboro MA coverage in July, 2000. In the first media reports regarding the Attleboro arrests, the incident was characterized as a "sex club" raid. Within 48 hours, a coordinated effort led by NCSF and the local community to educate the media resulted in a major change in the characterization of the arrests. The tone of the coverage went from defending the actions of the law enforcement officers to questioning their judgment and several reporters raised legitimate questions about possible civil rights violations.

From February to May 2002, five SM conventions were targeted by Concerned Women for America, American Family Association, and the American Decency Association. NCSF worked with each event to counter sensationalized attacks in the media as well as resisting action by local authorities who attempted to shut down some of these SM conferences. The attacks took place in the midwest against My Vicious Valentine and International Mr. Leather in Chicago, Bound by Desire in Michigan, Tribal Fire in Oklahoma, and Beat Me in St. Louis in Missouri.

n 2012, NCSF's Incident Reporting and Response helped hundreds individuals, groups and businesses when they faced persecution because of their involvement with BDSM, swinging or polyamory. The IRR program has been underway since 1997, providing people with advice, documentation to assist their efforts, and help with strategy and tactics.

NCSF consults with attorneys representing defendants in criminal and civil cases as well as with prosecutors and District Attorneys. We also receive requests from individuals, groups and businesses asking:

• How to operate legally

• How to do law enforcement outreach

• How to file for nonprofit status

• How to do media outreach and crisis intervention

• How to do hotel or venue outreach

• How to deal with family court in divorce or custody issues

Please support NCSF to help change the legal, political and social environment in the U.S.

Education Strategies

Early in 2000, NCSF launched its Education Outreach Program (EOP). This program is designed to educate law enforcement officials about our communities, and educate members of our community regarding the risks of selective enforcement and how to minimize the risk of becoming a target. NCSF has published a number of pieces of literature for this program and has assembled and trained a team of individuals from across the country to deliver the educational presentations developed by the NCSF-EOP. New presentations are always being developed by the EOP team.

We Need You!

In the past decade, alternative sexual expression has become much more visible to the general public. As we continue to move into the streets of mainstream America, we face an increasing number of attacks against our right to freedom of sexual expression. While the battles that NCSF has waged have been successful, our resources are depleted. will continue to defend against these attacks, but the success of that fight depends on your support. You can provide that support by becoming an individual member of NCSF, volunteering to join the NCSF staff, making a donation to NCSF, or encouraging your group to become a Coalition Partner of NCSF.